Peace with justice (and each other)

By Steve MacKenzieRoom 217

fosters.com

By Steve MacKenzieRoom 217

Posted Jan. 31, 2012 at 3:15 AM

By Steve MacKenzieRoom 217

Posted Jan. 31, 2012 at 3:15 AM

Two years ago I added a three to five minute speech to my Peace with Justice unit in Honors English IV. I said at the time and continue to say that the speeches made the unit. For the 10 years or so before that the unit was just lacking. It is not lacking any more and the speech featured here, by senior Logan Hill, is just one of 48 reasons why:

As I evaluate and consider all the things I have learned in this "Peace with Justice" unit, I have come to understand that the most important lessons I will take from this part of Honors English IV were not taught — they were realized. This unit was not about learning some great new truth about the universe I had not known before but about seeing the things it seems like all of us know and few of us recognize.

All of us in this room are human beings who think our lives are just as instrumental in some Great Plan as everyone else's. We all believe that life is "The Odyssey," and that we are Odysseus. The world is just a blank slate on which we can draw out our own image, write our own stories, and design our legacy.

Yes, the world is an epic poem but it is no "Odyssey." No one is a bigger hero voyaging across the seas of life that I am, and I am no greater a hero that you are. We each get a line in a seven-billion-line epic. Some of us will get a few lines, and a few will get stanzas. The thing that makes this life the greatest literary work is that it began at the dawn of time, and will end when there is not a single person left to contribute.

We all have something to offer. Each of us was born to different parents, who were born of different parents than we were. We've lived different lives and had different experiences. We met different people and shared different stories. We've spent our time on this Earth, since the time our fragile minds started looking around with curious eyes, creating a perception. I see the world through different eyes than you do. This isn't something that should be feared. It isn't a problem that we all have varying interpretations of the world, rather it's a beautiful fact of life that makes each one of us an anomaly.

If each of us has a different perception of life, and no one is any more important than another, then each individual viewpoint is part of the entire picture. This podium has three dimensions: a length, width, and height. If our brains could only see the podium in one dimension it wouldn't make sense. It wouldn't look like a podium. However, you add a second dimension and it starts to look distinguishable. By adding a third dimension you get a view from every possible angle and the podium becomes a recognizable and unique object.

Civilization has seven-billion dimensions, seven billion different ways you can spin it and look at it that provide an entirely new view of the world. The more of these perspectives that we take the time to hear and understand the clearer our interpretation of reality starts to become. The view from each individual's eyes can only see one page of a seven-billion page book. One page might be interesting and it could be filled with useful information. But the more pages you read the more the book begins to make sense.

It's important to take time to listen to our fellow human beings. I've come to realize that simply being nice is not enough to support either peace or justice alone, never mind together. Being friendly is a good start -- it beings with a "Hi, how are you?" but peace with justice comes when you actually care to hear the answer after the question. Every morning when Mr. MacKenzie asks me how I'm doing today, I know he's not just saying it as a formality. It's not merely a courtesy gesture or the polite thing to do; I believe he asks me how I'm doing because he sincerely wants to make sure I'm doing all right, and if not, he wants to offer and helping hand. See, Mr. Mac recognizes something it's taken me a while to notice. Often times people just need someone to listen. But equally as often we just need to listen to someone.

When we hear someone out, let them tell us what's bothering them and why, express their feelings and opinions freely and we embrace them, then we extend our brains' capacity to see from a whole new angle. The more we learn from our fellow human beings, the more we let them share with us, the bigger difference we're going to make in their lives and the bigger change they will make in ours. Newton's third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Every time someone comes to us for a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen, we make a change in them. And there is an equivalent change in us.

The key to peace with justice begins with being here to lend people assistance whenever possible; it starts when I make the decision to make each of you a priority. The foundation of peace with justice in my life would be that when I say "Hi, how are you?" it's not just a greeting, but I'm actually concerned how you're doing today. And if it's bad, I really want to make it better.

Maybe I can offer you some advice from my own perspective. But at the very least I can hear you out, because just my listening could make a world of difference — to you and me.

Steve MacKenzie teaches English at Somersworth High School and can be reached at room217@comcast.net.